Talbot Four Seasons

Yeah. Stoked. It’s a dark metallic forest green - looks black indoors though.

Needs a better fork. Really nice though.

Needs a better fork.

Controversial.

For $425, that's a steal. Looking forward to seeing it built up.

Thanks. Yeah, very pleased. The Seven/Wound Up combo is something I’ve wanted for a very long time, so the fork isn’t going anywhere.

Nothing special going on it. Zipp alloy finishing kit, 32h 105 hubs laced to DT R460s and 105 R7000 everything else. Sensible stuff, though.

banging

10 spd sram red plz

Awesome. Needs a CP thread of it's own.

Lovely.

Silver finishing kit and gumwalls (which will stay clean #LA) would look amazing.

Quite an hourglass at chainstays, whats the clearance like? My Moots from the days 25c were considered extremely wide could easily take 28c.

Glad to see you cycling again; i am fallen out of love to cycle for pleasure.. just commutes and errands of about 80 miles a week. Maybe the Coronavirus social distancing will help me get back into lycra.

With room for like 10 spacers too.

"no longer require a bike with mudguards"

🖕🏼

Can't wait to see this built!

Looks great. Definitely keep wound up, they’re an awesome fork.

Also R7000 is decent.

@fredtc I was very tempted to make it 'period correct'.. but then I remembered how shit SRAM 10sp is versus modern Shimano...

@amey - I haven't stopped riding per se. Just had lots of life stuff going on that has meant I've not really been able to ride as much as I'd like. I dunno Re clearance. Probably 28? Tubeless 25s on a wide rim are fine around here though. The roads are by and large very good due to the lack of poor weather. However if when I mount them, I realise there's loads of room, I'd be tempted to go bigger. I have thought this... but I already have the black Zipp bits. Will have a think.

@sumo - yeah, belonged to an old guy. Definitely will be chopping it!

@TM - indeed. Love the way they look too. Very 10-15 years ago NAHBS.

R7000 stuff turned up from Merlin. Not too bad considering I ordered on Saturday.

Having used the chonky boye R785 shifters for the last three years, the 105 shifters feel diminutive by comparison. Lovely, though. Far comfier size for my hands, but most importantly, the reach of them. Very glad I didn't spend the extra on Ultegra or DA tbh. This stuff looks great. Also went for 52/36 / 30t instead of 50/34 / 28t which is what I've had for the last five or so years. Should be built up at the weekend.

Only took it on a short 35k ride but so far, muy bueno. A very, very different bike to the Talbot. 25c, even tubeless on a wide rim, feels incredibly different to 30c tubeless on a wide rim. A huge amount, in fact. Mostly when out of the saddle, I can’t really throw the bike from side to side as much as do with the Talbot.

I feel this frame flexes far more where you’d want it to from a compliance perspective. Bumps in the road feel the same as they did on the Talbot, despite the skinnier tyres. The Talbot was built with MAX in a good few places including the chain stays, whereas this is far more forgiving in that area due to its svelte, heavily shaped stays.

It climbs effortlessly, too. Considering I’m very overweight at the moment, it was much easier to get up an incline than expected. The Talbot has admittedly always felt like a bit of a tank to climb with. This... like a race car by comparison.

Overall, I’m very happy indeed. Fit is mostly dialled other than bar height and the frame itself arguably is a better fit than the Talbot, too. Will probably bring it up a tiny bit then take it back to the shop to have it’s steerer cut once I’m happy with it.

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Oh, weird not having Di2 and hydraulic discs. Having to manually trim your front derailleur is weird. But, on the plus side, this R7000 is amazing. Way better than 6800. Very, very impressed. And rim brakes aren’t so bad either. Especially somewhere that it rarely rains.

I’m very overweight at the moment

Boy I know this feeling. ATM being permanent....

Nice bike!

Looks lovely!
What size is the frame?
Looks like those valves could get through a 50mm rim :)

Yes JB! What’s the saddle bag?

Ortlieb I think

They’re tubeless and I already had them so I wasn’t gonna buy new ones for vanity sakes :-) was supposed to be the cheapest build possible! Oh 53cm effective tt x 54cm seat tube I think. Too tube is definitely 53. Talbot is a little long for me. Hence turning it into a flat bar gravel bike.

And yes @thrasher it’s ortlieb. Has a little mount that attaches to the saddle rails.

That's lovely. And it's refreshing to see an expensive frame with mid-range kit (one could argue it should always be this way round).

Seven is gorgeous, would love to see the colour in sunlight, but the proportion of fork looks a bit skinny (in contrast to a lot of forks being too chunky)

I do agree with you there @Big_Ted - if I could change anything it’d be a different fork that could take 28c tyres. The rear can easily take a 28. A classic Enve 2.0 would look the business. Here’s the paint in the sun.

@Lolo well, the whole point of this bike was to be as cheap as possible whilst still being nice to ride.

Frameset - $425
Wheels - $260
Group - $436
Tyres - $80
Tubeless tape - $12
Everything else I already had.

So buying anything above 105 would’ve been superfluous...

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See I reckon the fork is perfectly matched to the frame here, I guess having wound up on one bike and bontrager satellite on another I’m de-sensitised to the forks.

@JB if you fancy something slim but not too slim that will clear a bigger tyre whisky forks are really nice.

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